Saturday, June 28, 2008

""This trip will be an important opportunity for me to assess the situation in countries that are critical to American national security, and to consult with some of our closest friends and allies about the common challenges we face," said Obama, in a statement released by his campaign.

"This will be an important opportunity to have an exchange of views with leaders in these countries about these and other issues that are to American national security — and global security — in the 21st century," he added. "

Hmmmm.... Okay. How he handles this will be interesting. If he travels overseas as a Senator on a fact finding mission, that is one thing, but I suspect that given his narcissism he will play up as a visiting head of state. Doing so Obama could put foreign governments in an awkward spot. Its one thing to complain about Bush and cheer for Obama's victory, but how do they treat him now? Senators don't generally pow-wow with heads of state. The appearance of foreign meddling won't help him.

Further, this can backfire. Adoring foreign crowds are more likely to annoy uncommitted American voters than convince them. There is a lot of room for gaffes and embarrassment. Unlike the American policial machine or American media, foreignors will have little incentive to smooth the waters for him.

This is an early test for Obama. While he is the product of the Chicago patronage system, he has little experience in running a non-political event.

"Consult your friend on all things, especially on those which respect yourself. His counsel may then be useful where your own self-love might impair your judgment." - Seneca

I'll be posting a few things to keep everyone entertained until Sparkle gets back.

Currently drinking: Mt. Dew Voltage. That shot of ginseng is supposed to be energizing, or is it the music?

Currently reading: Watch on the Rhine by John Ringo (fiction) Moment of Truth in Iraq by Micheal Yon

Currently listening to: Stricken by Disturbed off album Ten Thousand Fists.

Disturbed's newest release Indestructible is a bit different. I like Torn, Criminal and The Curse, but I am dubious about the rest of the album. This music is a bit too adrenaline pumping to blog to, so I booted Marina V's Simple Magic.

Friday, June 27, 2008

My Dad loved Disney World. We went often. We were there the day the Epcot opened. I have been too many times to count. I was thinking last night that this might be the last time I go. After this, my youngest will travel into that strange world of the teenager where only girls and sleep matter. So I'm going to take advantage of this last window of opportunity where the magic still lives for him and I'm going to enjoy myself.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

I used to think of myself as a feminist when I was young. But discovering that abortion was the most important thing to the women's movement made me quickly realize how destructive feminism had become. Destroying the greatest gift we are given in this life goes against everything that is a natural instinct of a woman.

The other day I was vacuuming when my son camebounding into the room. 'Mummy, Mummy, let me help,'he cried. His little hands were grabbing me around theknees and his huge brown eyes were looking up at me. Iwas overwhelmed by a huge surge of happiness.I love the way his head nestles in the crook of myneck. I love the way his face falls into a mask ofeager concentration when I help him learn thealphabet. But most of all, I simply love hearing hislittle voice calling: 'Mummy, Mummy.'

It reminds me of just how blessed I am. The truth isthat I very nearly missed out on becoming a mother -thanks to being brought up by a rabid feminist whothought motherhood was about the worst thing thatcould happen to a woman. You see, my mum taught methat children enslave women. I grew up believing thatchildren are millstones around your neck, and the ideathat motherhood can make you blissfully happy is acomplete fairytale.

In fact, having a child has been the most rewardingexperience of my life. Far from 'enslaving' me,three-and-a-half-year-old Tenzin has opened my world.My only regret is that I discovered the joys ofmotherhood so late - I have been trying for a secondchild for two years, but so far with no luck.

I was raised to believe that women need men like afish needs a bicycle. But I strongly feel childrenneed two parents and the thought of raising Tenzinwithout my partner, Glen, 52, would be terrifying.As the child of divorced parents, I know only too wellthe painful consequences of being brought up in thosecircumstances. Feminism has much to answer fordenigrating men and encouraging women to seekindependence whatever the cost to their families.She goes on to describe how she wasn't allowed to play with dolls and was taught that motherhood is a form of slavery.

Alice Walker has not talked to her daughter since she became pregnant because Rebecca questioned her mother's ideology. Rebecca questioned Walker leaving her for months at a time, leaving her on her own at the age of 13 with money to buy food. It seems that neglect was at the heart of Alice Walker's maternal instincts.

Rebecca began to have sex at the age of 13 with her mother's knowledge. She also obtained an abortion at the age of 14 with her mother's knowledge and help as well. An act that has haunted Rebecca her whole life.

Such is the legacy of feminists.

Rebecca states:

Feminism has betrayed an entire generation of womeninto childlessness. It is devastating.Although Rebecca's Mom has cut her out of her life and told her that her relationship had been "inconsequential, the happy part is that Rebecca has found her own voice. She has discovered what all loving Mothers know:

I am my own woman and I have discovered what reallymatters - a happy family.h/t BethD

The court’s 5-4 ruling strikes down the District of Columbia’s 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision goes further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact.

Although my Dad and brothers hunted while I was growing up and my Dad kept a handgun in the house, I never had any use for guns myself. In fact, I hated the thought of them. One of the biggest fights I ever had with my husband was when the kids were little and he brought home a gun from the house he grew up in. I did not want a gun in the house. He bought a gun safe and assured me all was safe.

I use to think the NRA types were always overblowing the assault on 2ndAmendment rights. But what is clear is that when Democrats are in charge of appointing judges, we get rulings that restrict gun rights.

So, I started looking for a gun myself. I've decided to get my concealed handgun permit. I actually went into a gun shop last week. I told my best friend that I know it sounds irrational, but I really have the feeling that I should be getting a gun while the getting is good. I truly feel that if the Democrats get their way, law abiding citizens will eventually not have the right to own a gun. The Democrats are in charge of Congress now and if Obama wins he will appoint radical left judges to the Supreme Court who will continue to throw out the will of the people with judicial activism. Then we are, as they say, up a creek without a paddle.

It's not overblown and it's not irrational to believe that might happen anymore. It is reality staring us in the face.

Four decades ago, during the Vietnam war, Mr Duyet was in charge of the notorious Hoa Lo prison - the place where Mr McCain says he was brutally beaten and tortured during five-and-a-half years as an American prisoner of war.

"McCain is my friend," said 75-year-old Mr Duyet as he feeds the caged birds he now keeps in his garden in this coastal city."If I was American, I would vote for him." ........"He is a very frank man - very conservative, and very loyal to his country and the American ideal.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

“We’ve had a series of productive meetings with the campaign since Sen. McCain won the nomination—including a recent meeting with the Senator. We expect to have more conversations with the campaign as we head toward November.” — Patrick Sammon, Log Cabin Republicans President — June 25, 2008

Is this even controversial? Why wouldn't he meet with different groups? As you all know, I'm big on meeting with everyone (in this country) to try and sway them to our side.

the greatest enemies of gay people are not social conservatives in the West who may question (what they call) our lifestyle and oppose legislation benefiting us, but Islamic theocrats who execute gay people in jurisdictions where they predominate and seek to destroy the nations with political systems which allow us to live freely.

The left (and certainlyObama) does not see the danger here, especially for gay people. I would think that anyone gay would look at this issue as much as any personal issue on gay rights.

Since McCain does understand this danger, it only makes sense that he could and should reach out to those who would benefit from his leadership.

Gay marriage isn't the only or even the most important issue to many gay Americans.

Responding to Nader's comment about Obama "talking white" to get elected..:

Obama continued: "Ralph Nader’s trying to get attention. He’s become a perennial political candidate. I think it’s a shame, because if you look at his legacy in terms of consumer protections, it’s an extraordinary one but at this point he’s somebody who’s trying to get attention and whose campaign hasn’t gotten any traction and so what better way to get some traction than to make an inflammatory statement like the one that he made. It is what it is."

You can say alot of things about Nader, but he has never been one to say things just to get attention. I have never agreed with a thing that Nader said, but I have always had respect for the fact that he practiced what he preached and he never acted like a normal politician.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Democratic leaders like Senator Harry Reid considered the war lost. Barack Obama called for a U.S. withdrawal starting in the spring of 2007, while Senator Reid offered legislation calling for a complete U.S. pullback by March 2008. ........In these circumstances, it’s amazing that George Bush decided on the surge. And looking back, one thing is clear: Every personal trait that led Bush to make a hash of the first years of the war led him to make a successful decision when it came to this crucial call.

Bush is a stubborn man. Well, without that stubbornness, that unwillingness to accept defeat on his watch, he never would have bucked the opposition to the surge.

Bush is an outrageously self-confident man. Well, without that self-confidence he never would have overruled his generals.In fact, when it comes to Iraq, Bush was at his worst when he was humbly deferring to the generals and at his best when he was arrogantly overruling them. During that period in 2006 and 2007, Bush stiffed the brass and sided with a band of dissidents: military officers like David Petraeus and Raymond Odierno, senators like John McCain and Lindsey Graham, and outside strategists like Fred Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute and Jack Keane, a retired general.

**********

The cocksure war supporters learned this humbling lesson during the dark days of 2006. And now the cocksure surge opponents, drunk on their own vindication, will get to enjoy their season of humility. They have already gone through the stages of intellectual denial. First, they simply disbelieved that the surge and the Petraeus strategy was doing any good. Then they accused people who noticed progress in Iraq of duplicity and derangement. Then they acknowledged military, but not political, progress. Lately they have skipped over to the argument that Iraq is progressing so well that the U.S. forces can quickly come home.

But before long, the more honest among the surge opponents will concede that Bush, that supposed dolt, actually got one right. Some brave souls might even concede that if the U.S. had withdrawn in the depths of the chaos, the world would be in worse shape today.

Listening to the campaigns every day reminds me of high school where one group says something about another group or person and the school is buzzing and wondering how the other is going to respond.

In case you missed it, the latest buzz is about how Fortune had reported McCain's chief strategist Charlie Black had basically said that another terrorist attack on U.S. soil would help McCain. Black said he didn't remember saying that, but apologized because Obama's camp, who really is starting to be the thought police, said that "McCain had "fully supported the Bush policies that have taken our eye off of alQaeda, failed to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, and made us less safe."Uhh....did they miss that we have almost completely defeated alQaeda in Iraq? Also, I think the "less safe" mantra isn't going to work when we all know that everyone expected us to be attacked again after 9-11 and we have not been, so I think we can clearly state that we have been kept safe. Obama's campaign also shot back with "this is the kind of politics that needs to change." Everything that is said to criticize BarackObama is touted as "the kind of politics that needs to change."

AmericaBlog, in response to the terror attack comment, says, “John McCain really is running Bush's 2004 campaign all over again. The politics of fear are front and center.” Also, Karl Rove says Obama reminds him of “the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."About that, TPM's Greg Sargent writes: "It should also be noted, of course, that Rove took a man who actually is a country club denizen who makes "snide comments" about others -- that would be George W. Bush -- and turned him into a regular Joe. Meanwhile, the guy who would struggle for admittance to some of these exclusive enclaves -- Obama -- is now "the guy at the country club." Rovian up-is-downism at its finest." Ok, here is the idea. Let's just stop the campaigning until August. I mean it. Both camps just go on vacation with their families. Most Americans are just irritated by the constant back and forth that goes on. It's beyond ridiculous. These kind of high school jabs do nothing to help us know the candidates and only turn more people off of politics.

Let this be the real year of change. Just stop. Stop campaigning until after the conventions and give the American people a rest. We will get to know you just fine in September and October. Plenty of time to bash each other right there.

Monday, June 23, 2008

As the presidential campaign drones on, Barack Obama and the Democrats are fleshing out the promise of "change" with some specific, big-government policy proposals. Many are familiar, perhaps because they already have been tried – in Argentina.Read it all.

Americans reading that laundry list may note that it sounds a lot like the mindset of the left wing that will dominate the Democratic Party's convention and choose Barack Obama as its candidate in August. From nationalized health care and government-owned refineries to punishing taxes on the rich, Argentina has been there, done that. There are good reasons to find the resemblance disturbing.

“The choice is clear. Most of all we can choose between hope and fear. It is going to be very difficult for Republicans to run on their stewardship of the economy or their outstanding foreign policy. We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black? He’s got a feisty wife.”

Gee, we actually didn't mention you were black because it really doesn't matter to us what color you are. But, since that seems to be so important to you Obama, you might take note that we have had two black Secretaries of State, one black Supreme Court justice, one black Sec. of Education and one black presidential candidate (Alan Keyes).

It is interesting to note that two of Obama's advisor’s were involved in returning Elián to Cuba; foreign policy advisor Greg Craig, who represented Elián's father (Castro) in the custody battle, and VP search committee member Eric Holder, who was deputy attorney general when 6-year old Elián was seized at gunpoint by federal agents. (via Babalu)

I'm beginning to wonder if there are any moderates on Obama's campaign. Are they all far left?

Richard Danzig, who served as Navy Secretary under President Clinton and is tipped to become National Security Adviser in an Obama White House, told a major foreign policy conference in Washington that the future of US strategy in the war on terrorism should follow a lesson from the pages of Winnie the Pooh, which can be shortened to: if it is causing you too much pain, try something else.

Mr Danzig told the Centre for New American Security: “Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security.” via GOC

Sometimes it's difficult to blog because I am having such a great summer. All my children are home working or going to school and the house is full of kids ages 11 to 21 pretty much all the time. It's noisy, messy, and my food is always gone, but I love it. I love their energy and I love their discussions. It's also nice to finally have all my kids grown enough where I can leave the house any time I want to without a thought.

The days have been beautiful and I finally have time to do some things I want to do every day like workout or swim.

I hope all of you are having a great summer too. There are two sets of pictures I want you to see. They are spectacular and will make you say "wow," I promise.

The first is from Kathryn Jean Lopez who shared these pics from NASA someone sent to her. Just fantastic.

The next ones are from Michael Totten called "The road to Kosovo." Truly stunning pictures of a place I will probably never get to see. Keep scrolling when you get there because they just keep getting better and better.

Welcome to Rightwingsparkle! The Pro-life movement brought me back into politics. Now I am a conservative activist. Mother Teresa once said: "Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person." Person to person. Me to you. Together we can change the world.